Poems of Nature, Poems Subjective and Reminiscent and Religious Poems, Complete

THE WISH OF TO-DAY.

     I ask not now for gold to gild
     With mocking shine a weary frame;
     The yearning of the mind is stilled,
     I ask not now for Fame.

     A rose-cloud, dimly seen above,
     Melting in heaven's blue depths away;
     Oh, sweet, fond dream of human Love
     For thee I may not pray.

     But, bowed in lowliness of mind,
     I make my humble wishes known;
     I only ask a will resigned,
     O Father, to Thine own!

     To-day, beneath Thy chastening eye
     I crave alone for peace and rest,
     Submissive in Thy hand to lie,
     And feel that it is best.

     A marvel seems the Universe,
     A miracle our Life and Death;
     A mystery which I cannot pierce,
     Around, above, beneath.

     In vain I task my aching brain,
     In vain the sage's thought I scan,
     I only feel how weak and vain,
     How poor and blind, is man.

     And now my spirit sighs for home,
     And longs for light whereby to see,
     And, like a weary child, would come,
     O Father, unto Thee!

     Though oft, like letters traced on sand,
     My weak resolves have passed away,
     In mercy lend Thy helping hand
     Unto my prayer to-day!

     1848.